End of the line for FPV

Ford’s soon-to-be extinct GT Falcon leaves the production line with a bang.

January 11 2014

Sam Hall

Summernats 2014: The event attracts car lovers from all around Australia.

Summernats

Summernats 2014: More burnouts.

Summernats 2014: Burnouts are a staple of Summernats.

Summernats 2014: Even more burnouts.

Summernats 2014: Father and son Joe and Kevin Gosschalk with their modified 1977 Ford P6 LTD hearse.

Summernats 2014: It may be slightly tamer than previous years but the event is still all about men having fun with cars.

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In hindsight, the mood should have been a little more sombre. Kicking off a farewell tour for one of Australia’s most iconic nameplates – Ford’s venerable GT – is a big deal, no matter your affiliation with locally produced muscle cars.

With Ford sounding the death knell for the GT in November – the very last FPVs will roll out of Broadmeadows some time in July – a final hurrah at the annual Summernats festival in Canberra last weekend seemed fitting.

But the celebration turned out more like a 21st birthday than a wake. So-called mourners were jubilant and upbeat, but then the GT has always been a larger-than-life character itself.

Summernats bids farewell to the Ford GT

We take Ford’s iconic muscle car for an honour lap at Australia’s premier horsepower event, the Summernats.

The GT first appeared in Australian showrooms in 1967 before its reputation as an Aussie muscle icon was cemented at Mount Panorama in Bathurst.

After an 18-year hiatus, the big bruiser was reinstated in 1992 for a limited run followed by another in 1997. It wasn’t until 2003 that the newly formed Ford Performance Vehicles brought the iconic nameplate back for good. Until now, at least.

While some car buffs view the latter-day GT as a mere imitation of the original, it will go down in the record books as Australia’s most powerful mass-produced Ford.

Its 335kW/570Nm 5.0-litre V8 engine is a peach. Stand on the accelerator and the Harrop supercharger fires into life, whining unapologetically in the background as the 1842kg firebrand sprints into triple figures (the claimed 0-100km/h time is a spritely 4.9 seconds).

The two-hour drive from Sydney to Canberra gives plenty of time for reflection, and a chance to share some of the latter-day GT’s more memorable moments.

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"Remember that day at Wakefield Park," begins co-driver Mark Short. "Wet track, cold tyres – the thing was like a smoke machine."

Needless to say on Summernats weekend, the drive down to the nation’s capital is very much about self-preservation – particularly in a V8. We get as far as Goulburn before a flashing highway patrol car hurtles past at warp speed to catch an errant Toyota 86. The 110km/h speed limit is duly noted.

Approaching the gates at Canberra’s Exhibition Park, a different, seemingly more vigilant kind of law enforcement makes its presence known.

"Just a mandatory check for drugs and alcohol, guys," shrugs a burly security guard, before he goes about upturning every bag in the boot.

Ah, Summernats. The proud festival is, in many ways, the GT’s spiritual home now. Amid the glut of imported cars on Australia’s roads – numbering nearly 70 brands and about 350 different models – the muscle car-centric demographic here is one that still truly appreciates what the FPV’s supercharged "Miami" V8 can offer.

Leigh Nunn, an IT guru from Queensland, is one of the myriad GT owners present. He drives for more than 15 hours each way every year to take part in the Summernats festival.

"I’ve always been a Holden man, but I made the decision to switch to Ford in 2003 based on the fact I felt they had a better product," he says.

Lee now owns two FPVs, his 2011 GT and a 2006 model F6 Typhoon.

Like everyone we speak to during the four-day festival, Leigh laments the respective manufacturing closures by Ford in 2016 and Holden in 2017.

"I would like to see both Holden and Ford stick around, it’s sad for the workers and it’s sad for the nation," he says.

"I think Australia needs a live car manufacturing industry, not just in terms of jobs but also seeing the manufacturing capabilities go off- shore, it’s a bad thing."

Leigh’s sentiment is echoed by former touring car champion and Ford poster boy John Bowe.

"I had a role in these cars to some degree, they’re as good a performance, muscle, blokey car you’re going to find anywhere in the world," he says.

"They would have done very well if they were ever allowed to be sold in America and I do find it sad that they’re going.

"The bottom line is that we’re no longer going to have cars like this GT-P Falcon, so anyone who ever had a hankering for one better go and buy one."

The GT-P looks similar in silhouette to the regular run-of-mill Falcon – ignoring the deep front bib spoiler and huge rear wing of the hero car. The V8 soundtrack, though, is unmistakable.

So, too, is its street cred.

Although Ford hopes to maintain interest in its V8 offering by replacing the entire FPV range with a sole XR8 variant mid-year, the truth is it will likely never share the same clout in public as the GT.

And so, we make our way through the Summernats complex for a fitting, final lap of honour. Sadly, in another six months the car we’re driving will be destined for the automotive history books.

Any final remarks?

"Bag it up!", "I bet you can’t smoke those tyres mate!".

In the end, that’s probably what the GT (and its creators) would have wanted.